Elektroprivreda Srbije (abbr. EPS; full legal name: Javno preduzeće Elektroprivreda Srbije Beograd) is the state-owned electric utility power company with headquarters in Belgrade, Serbia. It was founded in 1991 and it has about 31,500 employees, making it the largest enterprise in the country.

EPS is also the largest producer of lignite in Serbia operating in the Kolubara and Kostolac basins, producing around 37 million tonnes per year.[6] These two power plants has total installed capacity of 1,029 MW per year.

History

Since 1870, the coal production has begun in Serbia. Fourteen years later, the first electric lighting in Serbia was furnished in the military office building in Kragujevac. On October 6, 1893, the first Serbian power plant in Belgrade started with the production of electricity.[7]

In 1900, the first alternating current hydroelectric power plant Pod gradom in Užice on the river Đetinja went online. This power plant is still operating. The first alternating current transmission line from hydroelectric power plant Vučje to Leskovac, with the length of 17 kilometres (11mi), went online three years later.[8][9] In 1909, hydroelectric plants Gamzigrad in Zaječar and Sveta Petka in Niš began to build.[10] Two years later, the hydroelectric power station on the river Moravica in Ivanjica was put in the operation.[11]

In Belgrade, the power plant Snaga i Svetlost was built in 1933, being one of the largest in the Balkans at that time. The establishment of the Električno preduzeće Srbije followed in 1945. Between 1947 and 1950, the hydroelectric power plant Sokolovica and coal power plants Mali Kostolac and Veliki Kostolac, the first power stations to be built in Serbia after the Second World War.[12] In 1952, the underground mining of the coal field Kolubara had started. Four years later, coal power plant RB Kolubara went in operation. A year earlier, the hydroelectric power plants Vlasina and Zvornik have been connected to the power grid. In the period from 1960 to 1967, hydroelectric power plants Bistrica, Kokin Brod and Potpeć were under construction.

In 1965, Združeno elektroprivredno preduzece Srbije was founded. The coal-fired power plant Bajina Bašta began with the production of electricity a year later. The two largest power plants in Serbia, the hydroelectric power plant HPP Đerdap I at the Danube river and the coal power plant TENT, went into operation in 1970. Twelve years later, the pumped storage plant Bajina Bašta was built, and in 1990 the hydroelectric power station Pirot was put into operation. In 1991, the company was reorganized and changed name to Elektroprivreda Srbije.

During the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, many power plants have been severely damaged. With the establishment of the UNMIK administration in Kosovo on July 1, 1999, the company lost its access to the local coal mines and power plants, including Kosovo A and Kosovo B power plants.[3]

Following the stabilization of the country after war, in 2004 EPS was again a member of the European interconnected system UCTE. Company operates in the current form since July 1, 2005. Then, the electric power transmission division of EPS was split from the company and established as its own public enterprise, named Elektromreža Srbije (EMS).[13]

Since 2007, EPS has prepared plans for the construction of new power plants and the expansion of existing plants to increase generating capacity and meet growing consumption demand.[14]

EPS currently holds a monopoly on the electricity market in Serbia, however since January 1, 2013, the market has been open to other companies. The market is expected to be completely liberalized in the coming years.[15]

Market and financial data

According to the consolidated annual report in 2012, total assets of this company dropped from €12.049 billion to €9.446 billion, and the total company's equity dropped from €8.909 billion to €6.867 billion, with the negative net income of 108.51 million euros.[2][18] In 2013, the company managed to become profitable for the second time since 2007, with annual net profit of €167.23 million.